The problem is that the people with the most ridiculous ideas are always the people who are most certain of them.- Bill Maher -
Now, I have paid to see Bill Maher's stand up comedy. And I was mightily entertained. However, since that time, my respect for Mr. Maher has dropped. It turns out that this hugely funny man, who made a living for a time making fun of creationists, fundamentalists, and capital "C" Conservatives for being anti-science, is quite anti-science himself. At least when it comes to medical science, that is.
Maher has frequently been heard in interviews speaking out against vaccines (except "inoculating Third World children against malaria or diphtheria, or whatever", against the germ theory of disease, and for various woo-woo (s)CAM treatments. Even Bill Frist (Bill Frist, people!!!) pwned Maher on his own "Real Time" show in regard to vaccine facts.
He has backpedaled quite a bit since he first started loudly announcing his distrust of science-based medicine, but his words against vaccination, medical professionals, and effective drugs, along with his words of support for naturopathy, Barbara Loe Fisher (an anti-vaccine propagandist), Dr. Jay Gordon (Jenny McCarthy's pediatrician and another anti-vaccine propagandist), tell us what he really thinks.
He has some pretty ridiculous ideas: HIV/AIDS denial, immune system "boosting" with, presumably, herbs, supplements, diet restrictions (as a naturopath would advise), vaccine efficacy denial, among others. And he's pretty certain of them, regardless of his back-pedaling, which sounds insincere and is full of "I don't really think this, BUT (I sort of do.)"
While he inserts humor into his denial of being a denialist, it rings false. Sorry, Bill. I still think you're pretty funny, though. Lots of this is really old news, but the quotation in Reader's Digest got me all wired up about it.
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